


i don't like deep water.

by penrosequartz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: CAN WE CALL LONG ONESHOTS LONGSHOTS PLEASE???, Coming Out, Crushes, Fluff, Gay, Klance - freeform, Longshot - Freeform, M/M, Oneshot, Pining, Shiro is a good brother, Swimming Pool, Voltron, You Know What I'm Talking About, i made allura gay, i used they/them pronouns for pidge, keith is smol, lance is smol, pidge is kind of an asshole, so i dont piss people off, sorry oops, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 14:31:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9445601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penrosequartz/pseuds/penrosequartz
Summary: keith has been thrown into the deep end in more ways than one, and lance has saved him from drowning.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamwearer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamwearer/gifts).



> hi this is just me channeling my gay i hope you enjoy  
> also i can't tag but i used gender neutral pronouns for pidge because i know a lot of people have different headcanons for them, so please don't get mad at me :P
> 
> btw @dreamwearer i hope you like this it's for you

Lance. The annoying one on the team who flirts with anything that moves, and is basically just really irritating. We don't get along that well. All of which is perfectly fine and easy to understand.

 

Or it would be, if I didn't have a massive crush on the guy.

 

See he's not that bad. I don't want to kill him. I actually want to... you know what, I'm not gonna give you all the details.He's really funny, and caring, and loyal, and even though I pretend I hate him, I really don't. No matter how hard I try.

I let it show once, how I didn't hate him, just to try it out. He denied it ever happened.

 

I told Shiro. I think telling him made us better friends than ever.

Pidge guessed. That was... a heck of an awkward conversation. I did learn a lot though.

Hunk... sort of heard Pidge "fangirling" about it. Yeah.

Allura knows everything. She just knows.

Coran I think is mostly clueless. Maybe he just assumes we're all in gay love with eachother. Who knows?

Lance. Lance has no clue. I have made this very clear to everyone. He is never to know about my feelings. Ever.

 

Now that was my plan. Avoid him ever finding out. Crushes go away eventually anyway, right? Especially when the other person doesn't reciprocate.

But that was the problem. I didn't know if he reciprocated. I had no idea if he liked me back, and that fact was slowly eating away at me. Even though he probably didn't, right? Of course. He's so flirty. He didn't like me. He was straight.

 

But the tiniest chance was driving me crazy.

 

One day, after a long battle with some robot or something, we were all having a lazy day.Pidge had managed to make something to play their video game on, and Hunk was going to play with them. Allura was talking to Shiro about plans for the 'next move', and I couldn't stand that.

 

I haven oi d e awhat Coran was doing. I left him to it.

 

Eventually I was incredibly bored, and it was sometime late in the afternoon (Altean time confuses me).That left me with one option.

 

Lock myself in my room and wallow in self hate, of course. :)

 

As I was making my way back to my room, I wandered past Lance's quarters. I held my breath as I approached. If he came out that door, I swore I would die.Take a guess at what happened next.

 

"Oh, mornin' Keith!" Lance smirked cheerily. In his bare feet and boxers and t-shirt and messy hair, he looked unfairly attractive.

"It's afternoon, you lazy ass," I responded quickly, walking by. Lance walked alongside me, his long legs keeping pace easily.

"Really? Cool, new record!" He laughed.

"New record?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, I'm seeing how long I can sleep in," he stated proudly. "Hey, do you wanna go to the pool?"

 

_ what did he just ask me? _

 

"Don't you remember what happened last time we went to the pool? Also, isn't it like, on the ceiling?" I responded dryly.

"Coran said he 'fixed it', or something. Besides, I've got something to ask you!" Lance winked. He literally, actually winked.

 

"Whatever dude, let me go get changed. I'll meet you in the elevator," I told him, rolling my eyes and turning away so he didn't see how nervous I am.

He agreed, and ran back to his room to dress. I didn't know if I could handle him shirtless again.

I also didn't know if I should go shirtless. My body isn't that impressive. But then again, I don't have 'swimming shirts'.

 

What the hell did he want to ask me?

 

I steeled my nerves and decided that wearing a tshirt in the pool wasn't a good idea, especially with Lance there. I went shirtless and got to the elevator, towel hanging over my shoulders to cover most of me.

 

There was Lance. Shirtless. Looking great.

 

Ugh.

 

"Okay, spill," I raised my eyebrow at Lance, staring at his hair. I figured the hair was the safest bet. I couldn't get a boner over hair, right? I hoped.

"Spill? You spill!" He laughed incredulously.

 

My heart skipped a beat. "What."

 

"Okay, I told you I had a question?" Lance asked as we left the elevator and threw our towels down, standing on the side of the water.

"Yeah?" I said, looking anxiously at the deep end.

 

"Okay. Here we go. Straight up. Do you like Allura?"

 

 

_ w a i t w h a t _

 

 

"Uh... yes? She's great?" I said blankly. "She's super badass and would be a great ruler. She's one of my best friends in the entire universe?"

"No no no no no," Lance shook his head. "That's not what I mean, dude! Do you _like_ her, like her?"

"Uh. Romantically?" I laughed, "No, man!"

"Then why," Lance dived gracefully into the water, barely making a splash, then surfaced. "Why do you get mad when I flirt with her?"

 

_ oh quiznak _

 

"Uh, dude," I laughed, sweating andwalking to the shallow end of the pool. "I get mad because you flirt with _everything!_ It's just really annoying!" I looked down into the water, then grasped the hand rail tightly and descended the stairs.

"Oh, right, so you don't like Allura, you hate me!" He protested loudly.

 

"She's gay, Lance," I sighed.

"You're avoiding my- wait, what?" He asked.

"Chicks, not dicks. I know you love hitting on princesses, but seriously. She's a lesbian," I frowned.

 

"Oh. _OH_. That actually explains a lot!" Lance cracked a smile.

"You're not- you're not upset?" I asked curiously.

"No? Of course not. I don't actually 'like' her, by the way. I was just flirting to see how you both reacted," he laughed.

 

"Oh," I said. This boy confused me in so many ways.

"Huh. Wow, I'm such an idiot! I just assumed she was straight! That's just-" he stopped himself.

 

"Just what?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

 

He narrowed his eyes at me, then looked away.

"Hypocritical of me?" He replied slowly, his voice making the statement into a question. He seemed so scared.

 

I stood waist deep in water as he tread it. How did that even work?

 

"So? What?" I asked, "You're gay?"

"Bi, or something. I'm still kind of figuring it out..." he searched my eyes nervously. Wow, he was actually coming out to me. Jesus.

"Oh. Cool, I'm gay," I laughed, taking a few steps into deeper water. I felt the fear rising in my stomach.

 

"Wait seriously??!!" He cried incredulously, "What about girls, man?"

"Eh," I shrugged. This isn't what I expected to happen today: an actual conversation with Lance, not just bickering. A conversation. About _sexuality._

 

"Huh," he said, "So, you and Shiro are pretty close, anything going on there?"

"Dude! No!" I splashed him. "Are you interrogating me?"

He splashed me back. "Maybe? Pidge said they thought you had a crush on someone, and that I should pick you apart."

 

Goddammit, Pidge.

 

"I'M GONNA PICK _THEM_ APART!" I turned to get out of the pool.

"Hunk! I know it's him!" Lance called after me.

"It's not Hunk, you idiot!" I yelled, looking back. One last look at his face before I get Pidge's blood on my hands.

 

His eyes widened. "Coran?" He whispered.

"Dude, jesus christ. I don't have a 'crush'. Pidge said that to, get us to talk to eachother or something!" I stated desperately.

"Oh man, seriously? Ugh," he frowned, "Dick move, Gunderson."

 

I smiled.

 

We stayed quiet for a while, Lance paddling around while I walked in the shallow end.

Eventually he broke the silence. "You don't swim."

Lance was standing right next to me. I hadn't even noticed.

 

"God, man, don't sneak up on people like that!" I couldn't believe him.

"Why don't you swim?" He asked curiously.

 

I resumed pacing in the water. "I... I don't like deep water. You're the water guy. I'm the fire guy," I explained.

He examined my pacing. "Can't you stop being so uptight and on your guard for three seconds? God, dude," Lance's tone was frustrating.

 

I kept pacing.

 

Lance reached out and grabbed my arm.

For a split second, I completely froze. Then there was a splash. I flipped Lance over backwards.

 

He went under. He came up. He took a huge gulp of air. My face went white.

 

_ shit _

 

"What the hell, man?" Lance cried, rubbing his arm.

"Sorry," I said, "I'm not actually used to being touched. You caught me off guard."

Lance frowned.

"You can't swim, can you?" He asked.

 

_ ohsHiT no he can't ask me about this _

 

"No, I- I can, I just don't like deep water, that's all," I stammered.

"You like standing in the water, but you can't actually swim!" He looked at me oddly.

I sighed. "Fine, I can't swim. Happy?"

 

"Hm. Nope," he smirked, "I need to teach you."

"What?" I asked. My brain stopped working.

 

"Here, I'll swim to where we can't touch. Just hold on to me!" He grabbed my arm again, swimming quickly.

"Woah, woah, dude, no stop please I don't like deep water!" I grabbed onto water and air and anything that would stop this. I grabbed onto Lance.

 

My eyes were shut tight.

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

"Hey? Keith? Are you awake?"

"What happened?" I sat bolt upright, before falling onto my back again.

 

"You went psycho in the water. You nearly drowned! I had- you- you could have died, you idiot!" Lance sounded like he was about to cry, the cool cloth he'd been holding to my head falling to the floor.

I squinted my eyes and looked around, realising that the wet cloth was actually a towel.

 

"Are you alright? I- I don't remember anything..." The elevator button was glowing red.

 

"Good," he said, looking at me, then standing up. He winced, then limped over to the elevator, pressing the button again.

 

A loud beep came from the panel.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Lance pulled at his hair. "We're stuck here AGAIN??!!"

 

I curled into a ball on my side, staring over at Lance, my back to the water.

"How long have I been out?" I asked softly.

"A while," he said, pressing the button once more, "A couple of hours max."

 

"Hours?" I asked, confused, "Why haven't they come looking for us?"

"I don't know," Lance sighed, stumbling painfully back to the edge of the pool, "It probably has something to do with Pidge, knowing them."

 

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, sitting up (still curled in a ball).

"You kicked me. There was a punch somewhere there too. The water slowed you down but it still hurt like hell," Lance smiled.

 

"I hurt you?" My eyes widened.

"I'm fine, really, just a few bruises," Lance added quickly.

 

"Lance, I don't remember anything! How could I have punched you? Why would I?" I asked, more to myself than him, turning to face the water. God, I was such an idiot. I should have let myself drown the first time. I don't know why I kept coming back to water, just to stare at it and remember things that kept me up at night. Maybe so I could convince myself that water couldn't really hurt me.

 

"I don't know. Survival instincts maybe? You unconsciously hate me, after all."

My head turned and my eyes stared at the ground. "Lance, I don't..."

 

"It's okay, you don't have to thank me for saving your life! You're just lucky I know basic lifesaving!" He laughed sadly.

"That's not what I was gonna- wait, lifesaving?" I stopped.

 

_ does this mean what i think it does _

 

"Lance?"

"What?"

"Did- did you give me CPR?"

 

Lance gave a heavy sigh.

I reached my hand up to touch my lips.

 

"Lance."

"What."

"I flipped you over. I punched you. I actually injured you. And then I passed out. And I was drowning. And you gave me CPR AND THEN TOOK CARE OF ME?" I asked. I didn't deserve him as a teammate, let alone a friend or - god forbid - a boyfriend.

 

"Yep."

"I thought you hated me," I whispered.

 

"I don't hate you, Keith," he sighed, "I just say I do, but I don't. Not really."

"I don't hate you either," I said, staring into the water, my legs tucked against my chest again. _I really don't hate you Lance..._

 

Suddenly, I felt warm breath on the back of my neck. I nearly did something terrible. But I told myself that everything was fine. I was safe. "Hi," Lance said happily, oblivious, sitting cross legged directly behind me.

 

"Hi," I said, smiling, breathing.

"Hey! I snuck up on you and you didn't try to kill me! We got something going here!" Lance giggled.

 

I laughed.

He put his head on my shoulder. I think I died and rose again.

Then he wrapped his long arms around me, and pulled me onto his lap.

 

"Lance!" I laughed, and I didn't stop.

"Keith!" He imitated my voice.

 

He fell backwards, and I turned, ending in a pile of limbs and happy sounds.I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes.

 

"So, what? Are we, like, friends now?" I asked him, feeling his rising and falling chest. Even. Untroubled. A calm and clean spirit, is what my dad would have said. I think. I don't quite remember.

"I guess," he replied slowly.

 

"Is this what friends do? I mean, I have other friends, but I don't really do this, and I'm not really very good with people," I began talking quickly.

"Shh," Lance interrupted, sitting up and looking straight at me."Keith, I know I said I didn't hate you. But honestly, it's... kind of more than that," Lance grabbed both of my hands. "Yeah, friends hug and laugh and talk to eachother, but... with you, I want to..."

"Do other stuff?" I asked. For some reason, I felt completely calm for once. All the anger in me was disappearing. Where does anger go when you don't want it?

 

"Yeah," Lance confirmed softly, running his fingers through my hair.

"Like this?" I asked, closing my eyes, reaching up and planting a small kiss on his lips. I could feel his smile.

 

"Yeah, like that," I opened my eyes again, seeing his eyes. They're such a beautiful blue.

 

~~~

 

"YES!" screamed Pidge, running out of the lift.

Hunk awkwardly followed, eyes aimed at the ground. Allura laughed as she emerged, and Coran looked mortified. Then there was Shiro, standing there with his eyebrows raised and arms crossed, smirking.

 

"Are you kiDDING ME PIDGE?" I yelled, jumping up.

Lance lay on the ground. "Why was I not born a doorhandle. Life would have been so much simpler," his face was red.

 

"GAY!" Shouted Pidge, pointing at Lance and I, "YOU'RE SO GAY AND I RECORDED EVERYTHING I LOVE MY LIFE PRAISE THE LORD!"

"Sorry, guys," Hunk laughed, "Pidge made us do it!"

"They really did!" Coran commented. 

"I willingly participated," Allura raised her hand, "And I have 0 regrets."

 

"Shiro?" I asked desperately.

 

"Sorry, guys. That was incredibly enjoyable," Shiro shrugged, laughing.

 

~~~

 

So, yeah. I'm not going to explain myself. I don't like deep water, and the reason for that is none of your business. Shiro knows. I intend to tell Lance soon. Eventually, everyone. But I don't know you, whoever you are, wherever you are. If you're reading this, you probably know at least _something_ about me. But some things are best kept secret.

 

Lance threw me in the deep end with his smile and his eyes and his laugh. But he's saved me. Maybe one day I'll be able to swim on my own.

 

 

 

PS: If you are from Earth, please contact Lance's family. He seems increasingly upset that we're on the other side of the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this! i certainly did lol  
> if you have any questions ask me on my tumblr @dep-op-ex-pression   
> kudos are much 'preciated :D


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